Michele Bachmann acknowledged House Speaker John Boehner’s debt-limit plan may pass, even without her vote — though she’s confident that the country won’t default even without a deal.

“I want to state unequivocally for the world, as well as for the markets, as well as for the American people: I have no doubt that we will not lose the full faith and credit of the United States,” Bachmann said Thursday. “I have no doubt that there will be a final resolve.”

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Bachmann firm on debt limit

Bachmann answers 'fun questions'

Bachmann's full NPC address

Speaking and taking questions at the National Press Club, the Minnesota congresswoman and GOP presidential candidate gave a debt- and spending-focused stump speech and parried inquiries about her husband’s clinic and her federally backed mortgage.

Bachmann said that no compromise will get her to cast her vote for the Boehner plan.

“I will not be casting my vote for that bill. … I cannot. I am committed to not raising the debt ceiling,” Bachmann said.

But she laid the blame for the situation squarely on President Barack Obama.

“My colleagues may give the speaker that vote today. But despite John Boehner’s best efforts, absolute faithful efforts, to try and put a plan on the table, the problem goes back again to the president and his failure of leadership.”

Bachmann waved a copy of a January letter from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that said the debt limit needed to be raised by mid-May at the latest, offering it as proof that the administration has been dishonest and has procrastinated in dealing with the issue.

Bachmann called on the president to support the bill she’s cosponsored to have the government continue to pay interest on the debt and military salaries with incoming revenues if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.

Bachmann addressed several questions about the controversies that have beset her campaign since her launch last month, including whether her husband Marcus’s Christian counseling clinic practices a discredited form of therapy that seeks to make gay people straight.

Asked about the clinic, which she co-owns and frequently cites as a small-business credential on the campaign trail, Bachmann didn’t answer whether she supports so-called reparative therapy and took a protective stance toward her personal life.

“I’m extremely proud of my husband. I have tremendous respect and admiration for him,” Bachmann said as he beamed at her from his seat on the dais — she noted that the couple will celebrate 33 years of marriage in September.

“But I am running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not running for the presidency. Neither are my children, neither is our business, neither is our foster children,” she said.

Pressed as to whether her background doesn’t deserve scrutiny as she runs for the White House, Bachmann said with a broad smile, “I am running for the presidency of the United States, and I have no doubt that every jot and tittle of my life will be fully looked at and inspected prior to November of 2012.”

Bachmann also was asked about a report that she apparently purchased her home with a government-backed loan despite her vociferous criticism of the loan programs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

She didn’t deny the report, but added that government should leave the financial business to the private sector.

“This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved,” she said.

Asked about whether the media has been fair to her, Bachmann didn’t take the bait, saying she “knew it would be tough” when she decided to run and that growing up with three brothers prepared her for the rough-and-tumble of politics.

For news, she said she goes first to outlets she considers liberal to see what they’re saying. She cited MSNBC, The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.

Bachmann was the only House Republican absent for Thursday afternoon’s vote to proceed to the debt ceiling vote as she made her way back from the speech.

Readers' Comments (59)

The problem is that it is not convenient. Politicians want the easy way out. It's far easier for politicians to further burden the nation by borrowing more than it is to fix what's broken. So that's what they do. Time after time after time.

I'm a Tea Party conservative. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling shows that Rep. Bachmann is not a serious person or candidate for President. This is to pay for programs that have already been passed in the current budget. Discretionary spending can not be cut enough to handle the shortfall if the ceiling isn't raised. Not even the budgets of Rand Paul or the Republican Study Group call that that magnitude of immediate cuts. I had hope Rep. Bachmann had a better handle on reality than she apparently does.

For any Senator, Congressman or President, if you say no or veto anything coming out of Senate or House, better have a good alternative.

We need spending reform and tax reform. No more kicking the can down the street for the next generation or past the next election. Let's pass the House or Senate bill and immediately focus on continuing the debate. Gang of 6 or something close. We're tired of the uncertainty.

Lijemtu, you can't be a Tea Party Conservative--you're using reasoning!!!! You are about the first Tea Party person I've seen on here who understands the game of chicken being played with the US' financial leadership in the world. Kudos to you!!!!

Michelle Bachmann and Sara Palin's insane view of the world--and how they would run the US should put fear in everyone of us! Imagine if either of them were president at this same time, while all the crazy Tea Partiers in the House act like they know more than all the more senior people in WDC, the Treasury, the IMF... Scary!!!

For a party who claims to be the most patriotic (Obama doesn't like the US), if they get their way they'll damage the US in more ways than probably any other group or individual in our country's history.

The good news, by next election they'll be so terribly unpopular they won't be able to get elected to their local PTA.

I'm a Tea Party conservative. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling shows that Rep. Bachmann is not a serious person or candidate for President. This is to pay for programs that have already been passed in the current budget. Discretionary spending can not be cut enough to handle the shortfall if the ceiling isn't raised. Not even the budgets of Rand Paul or the Republican Study Group call that that magnitude of immediate cuts. I had hope Rep. Bachmann had a better handle on reality than she apparently does.

I am also interested in this strategy because conservatives and the Tea Party seem to be on a roll. With unemployment where it is (and likely to remain high for at least another year) Obama looks very vulnerable. Wouldn't make more sense to take the case for smaller government to the voters in 2012? Besides the presidency the Democrats hold on the senate seems (now) quite tenuous. If we are going to change the structure and role of the state, shouldn't there be a solid majority in favor as reflected in congressional seats and the presidency?

I really think Tea Party representatives ought to think about this issue. There is a vast scholarly literature on the "persistence" of welfare-state regimes. One cause of the staying power of social insurance programs (e.g., Social Security, unemployment compensation, Medicare, etc.) is "mass mobilization." In a nut shell, after studying public opinion and elections for 30+ years, I believe that at this time (as in 1995) a strong majority of the people actually do NOT want to dismantle the New Deal-Fair- Deal-Great-Society type programs.

Bachmann now admits this government-is-the-problem candidate sucks at four government teats: foster-kid factory, agricultural subsidies, clinic subsidies and a fat Fannie and Freddy loan. There is no better definition of fraud. She's the kind of do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do candidate. She lives in denial and it doesn't take much superficial information or disinformation to get her firmly planted in the land of delusion. She denies the possibility of default and by swearing to vote against any and every bill to raise the debt ceiling she is threatening US with another economic meltdown, market chaos, higher interest rates, trillions more in debt interest, another stock market crash and Great Recession and immeasurably more economic misery for most Americans. Bachmann is managing to fashion herself into the candidate who is perfectly imperfect, the candidate one would least like to see in the office of the presidency.

Rep. Bachmann seems to have little grasp of the realities of Our Federal Government and its budget.

Indeed we should pay the debt service and military...

What about the Courts, The House of Representatives, The Senate etc.?

Is the Representative willing to forgo her pay check and health care benefits? Is the Representative willing not to get a federal check for her family farm?

What will happen to our economy when there are no Social Security checks being spent by the seniors? Billions of dollars not spent in our economy...

Yes. Our Government needs to get its finances in check. It spends too much. Collects too little in taxes because of income deductions and tax credits.

If the Republicans and Democrats in charge fixed the tax code, got spending in check, and stopped spending the payroll tax (FICA/Social Security) to pay for everything but Social Security; Then we might fix the debt problem.

Representative Bachmann is out on the campaign trail while the U.S. House has done very little to manage the federal budget, its constitutional responsibility.

You can putty her up in makeup and hair dressing but she still is a dunce if she believes we can let the debt limit go without increasing it and not have our credit ratings come tumbling down, with huge negative consequences for every American and the the world economy. This person is asking to be President? She isn't ready to be a committee chairwoman.

Cutting spending is the first thing to do, not raising the credit limit. So if the debt limit isn't raised, the Social Security checks might not go out. The payments to the United Nations and Pakistan WILL go out. We won't let those people down.

And America may lose it's AAA rating. I'd be really interested to find out what our national credit score is.

Wouldn't make more sense to take the case for smaller government to the voters in 2012?

It would make sense for you to make your case for smaller government right now. What is it? All the programs you oppose were put into place to solve very real social problems. How will those problems be addressed by the Tea Party plan, whatever that is?

Ms. Bachmann and the Freshmen class of Repubs will certainly put an end to the GOP as we know it.

Nothing she has said shows any economic literacy. It will be a combination of cuts and increases in taxes that will solve the current issues and help to assure that the economy will be around next year.

The mantra of cut and cap is not intelligent, just an easy chant for Republicans to remember. None of them have learned anything by reading about the Reagan years and the issues there.

The freshmen Republicans should resign for their collective demonstration of economic iliteracy and a failure of historic perspective.

My God, this Bachman woman is STUPID! We already knew that, of course, but she keeps proving her stupidity day after day. And thank goodness the mainstream American electorate would never even consider putting a moron like her in the White House.

What planet is this dimwit from? She obviously knows or understand nothing of the issues at stake.

The issues at stake if the President is to be beleived is that we will default and bring upon the United States another great depression. If that is truly the case, why doesn't he just tell Harry Reid to take a vote on CC&B and then sign it into law. That sounds like a small sacrifice to save hundreds and thousands of lives that would be lost in another great depression, that is of course unless it is not true and we won't default and social security, the military and medicare will be paid.